Are you planning on going on a vacation to Medellin in the coming months? Need to know what the current travel rules are? Here you have the most important information.

The Current State of the Pandemic in Medellín

It’s been two years since the pandemic began, and the end is still not in sight. Although there are vaccines, and 71% of the population of Medellin has received them, there are no protocols yet to prevent infections from resurfacing.

The World Health Organization has warned of an 8% rebound in the virus even though over 50% of the population was vaccinated. So, every country must follow biosafety measures to safeguard the lives of its inhabitants.

Vaccinations in Medellin

Colombians over the age of 18 may receive the third dose of the vaccine. The Minister of Health announced that minors under 12 could also receive reinforcement vaccinations with Pfizer. A third dose should be applied after receiving the second dose.

Entrance to Medellin: Is the Test Needed?

If you’re arriving in Medellin you’re probably wondering if you’ll need a Covid test to enter. The answer is that it depends.

Foreigners who arrive in Colombia by air must present the complete vaccination scheme (three doses) for COVID-19 or show a negative PCR test, carried out up to 72 hours before the trip. You can also show a negative antigen test taken 48 hours before the flight.

Foreigners With a Resident Visa and Diplomats Arriving by Air

Foreign residents and diplomats have slightly different requirements. These individuals must have:

• A complete vaccination schedule
• For an incomplete scheme, the last dose must have been applied less than 14 days ago or they were not vaccinated. Additionally, a negative PCR test must be presented and carried out a maximum of 72 hours before the trip.

If you fit into this bucket, it’s a good idea to double check regulations before you fly. Not having the correct vaccination records could lead to setbacks, delays, and even trip cancellations. 

Foreigners Entering Colombia by Sea

If you’re arriving in Colombia by sea (in other words by cruise ship), the requirements are a little bit different. 

Foreigners arriving in Colombia by sea need:

• A complete vaccination series or at least the first two doses of the vaccination schedule.
• They must show a PCR test with a negative result, performed no more than 72 hours in advance. Or, they can show an antigen test with a negative result completed 48 hours in advance. This must be presented before the date and time of boarding scheduled at the point of departure.

This measure applies to people over 18, whether they are national or foreign citizens. If you’re arriving with a Colombian resident or migrant visa, make sure that you’re prepared for this restriction.

Otherwise, you may be turned away at port and sent back to your home country. 

What Tests Are There to Detect COVID-19 in Medellín?

As of right now, there are 3 tests used for COVID in Colombia.

1. PCR
2. Antigen test
3. Serology test

Let’s take a deeper look at each of these tests. 

PCR

This technique is colloquially called the “stick test”. Through PCR, otherwise known as a polymerase chain reaction, coronavirus in the early stages of the disease can be detected. This test comes with a 90 % reliability.

This PCR test detects the presence of the virus from respiratory samples taken in the posterior area of ​​the pharynx. The results come out within 24-48 hours.

Serology Test

The PCR test and the antigen test help rule out whether you have the virus or not. 

On the other hand, this test searches for and quantifies the antibodies generated against SARS-CoV-2, determining the presence of covid.

The serological test takes a blood sample from the person. The good news is that it’s not necessary to fast before you take the test. 

COVID Antigen Test: Rapid Diagnostic Test

This rapid test detects structural particles before collecting respiratory samples.

It differs from the PCR test because it provides the results in as little as 15 to 20 minutes! The speed of the test has made it a practical technique for urgent cases. Just remember that the test must be performed within days of close contact with an infected person.

The accuracy of this test is almost 100% as long as it’s carried out in the first five days of symptoms or after having been in contact with someone who tested positive. 

Unlike the PCR test, it can be used at any time, but obtaining the results takes longer.

Should I Still Wear a Mask?

In Medellín, neither the vaccination card nor the face masks are mandatory. There are a couple of exceptions, however.

These include: 

• Health centers (hospitals, clinics, laboratories, among others)
• Nursing homes 
• Public transport

If you’ll be in any of these locations, make sure you have a mask handy. Otherwise, you could be denied entry.

Leaving Medellín

Every traveler has to fill out the Check-Mig application form and meet the requirements established by the destination country.

In other words, you’re not just following Medellin’s rules anymore. Now you’ve also got to adhere to rules in the country you’re traveling to.

In general, you have to show a negative COVID test (Antigen or PCR) carried out at least 48 hours in advance. Citizenship or immigration status doesn’t matter as it is a national rule.

Non-immigrant travelers over 18 years of age must typically present a complete vaccination card against COVID-19.

The Future

Although the pandemic isn’t over yet, we musn’t lose the dreams and hopes that we had before this event.

Let’s be responsible, cautious, and respectful with the biosafety regulations to achieve the normality that we used to have. 

What do you think about the future of covid-19 in Colombia? Let us know in the comments!

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The Colombia retirement visa is also fairly inexpensive to get with a current cost of only $263.

Several readers of Medellín Living asked for us to cover the Colombia retirement visa, as this type of visa hasn’t been covered yet on this site.

A popular location in Colombia for expat retirees is Medellín.  Medellín is becoming popular for retirees due to its climate, low cost of living, good public transportation with its metro, and good healthcare with eight of the top 44 hospitals in Latin America.

A number of publications have called Medellín one of the top foreign retirement locations, including Businessweek, Huffington Post, International Living, Live & Invest Overseas and U.S. News.

In our Medellín Living reader survey in December last year, 19.4 percent of over 200 expats surveyed living in Medellín have a retirement visa, which was the second most popular visa for expats living in the city.

Colombia Retirement Visa Requirements

To qualify for a Colombia retirement visa, you must show that you have income of at least three times the minimum monthly salary in Colombia.  In 2017, the minimum monthly salary in Colombia is 737,717 pesos.  So three times that is 2,213,151 pesos or only $753 at an exchange rate of 2,941 pesos to the USD.

The minimum monthly salary in Colombia increases each year. In 2017, it increased 7 percent. The government reportedly renews some visas for people that qualified under lower amounts in previous years.

Required documents:

• Valid current passport with an expiration date of more than 180 days and at least two blank pages.
• Copy of the data page of your current passport where your personal data is displayed.
• Copy of the page of your passport where the last stamp of entry to or departure from Colombia is located.
• Proof of pension: certificate issued by government, public or private company, foreign entity or diplomatic or consular mission from the country that the foreign national receives retirement funds with a monthly income of no less than three times the current legal minimum monthly salary.
• Passport style face photo with a white background, sized at 3cm width X 4cm height, max size of 300kb jpg file for online application.

The current cost of a Colombia TP-7 retirement visa is $52 for processing and $211 for the visa for a total of $263.

The Proof of Pension

The Colombian government reportedly prefers official government pension certifications for its retirement visa, such as from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). It is reportedly more difficult to get approved with private pension plans

The proof of pension for the SSA is a SSA Benefit Verification letter. The easiest method to get a SSA Benefit Verification letter is via the SSA web site.

Next step is to get an apostille for this Benefit Verification letter. An “apostille” is an authentication attached to a document so it is certified for legal purposes for use in another country like Colombia.

The SSA Benefit Verification letter is a federal document. So the U.S. Department of State must be authenticate it.  You can order an apostille directly from the U.S Department of State via mail or in-person using a DS-4914 form, which costs only $8.  Agencies also offer apostille services in Washington, D.C. but these can cost upwards of $200.

Once you apostille the SSA Benefit Verification letter you need to get it translated into Spanish.  This is the final step.  Furthermore, keep in mind a Benefit Verification letter should be dated within 90 days of the visa application.

If you are getting your retirement visa in Colombia you can also reportedly get a letter in Spanish from the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá that certifies your Social Security income and is accepted as proof of pension for visas.

You email the embassy a letter of request, PDF copies of your SSA Benefit Verification letter, a signed release of information form and copy of your passport.  They will send back a letter that is accepted by Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores sent via a certified courier to your home.

Applying for a Retirement Visa in Colombia

The visa process in Colombia is fairly easy and it’s done online.  You can apply for a retirement visa online here. This application will require scans of all the above required documents in PDF files plus the photo in jpg format. A detailed guide for applying online is found here.

After the visa approval you need to travel to Bogotá to get the visa in your passport.  Visas are issued at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores office in Bogotá. This is located at Avenida 19 # 98-03, Torre 100 Building, 3rd Floor.  It’s open from 7:30am until noon.

If you don’t want to travel you can use a visa agency.  A visa agency can handle the online application. And it will courier your passport to Bogotá to get the visa in your passport. There are several visa agencies in Medellín.  We plan to cover these agencies in a future article. If you use a visa agency, you will need to add a notarized letter in Spanish authorizing the agency to work on your behalf.

You can also get visas at Colombian consulates around the world.  In the U.S., Colombia has consulates located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Newark, New York, San Francisco and Washington DC.

Once you have a Colombia Retirement visa, don’t forget to apply for a Cedula Extranjeria (foreigner ID) within 15 days at Migracion Colombia.  If you don’t do this you will be liable for a big fine.  The fine is up to seven times the monthly minimum salary in Colombia (over $1,700).

A TP-7 Retirement Visa is good for a year and will need to be renewed each year. After five years of having a TP-7 visa you are eligible for a resident visa, which is good for five years.

The Bottom Line

Colombia’s retirement visa has a lower income requirement than retirement visas found in many other countries.  For example, the income requirement for a retirement visa is $1,000 per month in Costa Rica, Panama and Peru.  The Colombia retirement visa is also relatively easy to get.  But it also is intended only for people who are retired and drawing retirement income.

The cost of living is also relatively low in Medellín and several other cities in Colombia compared to the costs found in North America and Europe. So Colombia is expected to remain a popular foreign retirement location.

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After you have received one of the many visas Colombia offers you will have a maximum of 15 calendar days to register your visa with Migración Colombia.

During this visa registration process you will also be applying for a Cedula Extranjeria, which is a Colombian ID for foreigners. This must be done in-person.

It is extremely important to register your visa within the allotted time or you will be liable for a fine of up to seven times the minimum monthly salary in Colombia (about $1,450).

Note that only visas of greater than three-month duration require a cedula. Short duration visas don’t require a cedula but still must be registered.  Also it is not possible to get a cedula with a standard tourist visa.

Applying for a Cedula

To register your visa and apply for a cedula this must be done at one of the Migración Colombia offices found in major cities in Colombia.

• Bogotá – Calle 100 #11B-27
• Medellín – Calle 19 #80A-40, Barrio Belén
• Cali – Avenida 3 norte # 50N-20
• Cartagena – Carrera 20 B # 29-18, Barrio pie de la Popa
• Barranquilla – Carrera 42 # 54-77, Barrio El Recreo

A complete list of Migración Colombia offices is found here.

Documents required:

• Your original passport
• Copy of the data page from your passport
• Original visa (in your passport)
• Photocopy of blood test showing your blood type if this is your first cedula
• Filled out application form found online here or in the Migración Colombia office

The cost of a cedula is currently 162,000 pesos (this is a new amount, which is up from 156,300 pesos in 2014).

This is the price listed on the Migración Colombia website but it may have increased this year as a reader in Cali who renewed a cedula recently reportedly paid 173,000 pesos.

You can pay with a credit card or debit card in the Migración Colombia office and you will receive a receipt with bar-code.

You can also schedule an appointment with Migración Colombia online here, but this is optional according to the Migración Colombia website.

When you apply for the cedula they will take your photo and fingerprints.

My Application Experiences

I have had three different visas so three different cedulas. Each cedula you receive will be valid be for the exact same duration as your visa. When you receive a new cedula after your first it will have the same number as your previous cedula.

Each time I have applied for a visa I have done this in-person in Bogotá at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores office. Each time I was there an hour before it opened and one of the first in line for a visa.

After receiving each visa I walked to the Migración Colombia office in Bogotá, which is short distance from the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores office.

In Bogotá the cedula application and visa registration for me only took about an hour each time in the morning. It is possible to receive your visa and apply for a cedula in the same morning in Bogotá if you don’t run into problems.

If you register your visa with Migración Colombia in Bogotá, the cedula should normally be ready for pickup in three business days at the Bogotá office. However, cedula-processing times can vary in my experience.

You can check the status on the Migración Colombia website, which has a list of cedulas ready for pickup.

You can also register the visa in Bogotá and request for the cedula to be sent to the Medellín Migración Colombia office (or another city) – this requires a letter to request this and make sure to have an extra copy.

Each time I applied I was told my cedula would be ready in three days in the Bogotá office or if sent to Medellín it would take 7-10 days. For my first cedula I had it sent to Medellín and it arrived about three weeks later.

For my second cedula I was still in Bogotá and it was ready as promised in three days.

For my third cedula it took well over a month to arrive in Medellín as Migración Colombia told me they were having problems with the vendor they outsourced cedula production to.

I needed to follow up with Migración Colombia a couple times for my third Colombian ID card.

Note that the number of a Cedula Extranjeria (CE) can be the same as the number of a Colombian citizen’s cedula (CC). For example, I know my cedula has the same number as the ID of Colombian guy living in Bogotá.

In my experience this can cause problems when signing up for some things like store rewards programs if their system doesn’t support both CC and CE numbers.

The Bottom Line

Once you have a Colombian visa, a cedula is required and the process to obtain a cedula is relatively painless.

Having a Colombian ID will make your life easier in Colombia. Most banks require a cedula to open an account. Plus a cedula can make it easier to open accounts for TV, Internet and phone services.

You can also travel domestically in Colombia with your cedula and leave your passport at home.

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This website has previously looked at several temporary visas for Colombia and due to several reader requests we now look at how to obtain a resident visa (RE visa) in Colombia.

The resident visa is intended for foreigners who wish to live full-time in Colombia. A foreigner with an RE visa is also authorized to exercise any legal activity in the country, including working.

Before looking at the resident visa, it is worthwhile to review several of the most popular temporary (TP) visas as the resident visa in most cases requires first having a TP visa for a certain duration.

Colombia Temporary Visas

Some of the most popular temporary visas (TP visas) with foreigners in Colombia include:

• Student visa (TP-3) – for the foreigner who enters Colombia to engage in an academic program. I previously had two TP-3 visas while I was enrolled in University EAFIT’s Spanish language program, each good for a year.

• Work visa (TP-4) – for a foreigner who has a job in Colombia.

• Retirement visa (TP-7) – for the foreigner who receives a retirement income such as a pension from a public or private company or the government (Social Security). The requirement is a minimum of three times the minimum wage in Colombia. The minimum wage in 2016 is 689,454 pesos per month, so the minimum retirement income is only $629 per month at an exchange rate of 3,290 pesos.

• Rentista visa (TP-7) – for a foreigner who receives a non-pension income from outside Colombia from a public or private company. The minimum income is 15 times the minimum wage in Colombia or about $3,143 per month.

• Investment visa (TP-7) – for a foreigner who invests in property or a business in Colombia.  For property investments, Colombia requires an investment that is more than 350 times the minimum wage in Colombia or more than $73,346. For business investments, Colombia requires an investment that is no less than 100 times the minimum wage in Colombia or no less than $20,956.

• Spouse visa (TP-10) – for a foreigner who has a Colombian spouse or permanent partner. Since I am married to a Colombian, I now have a TP-10 visa that is good for three years.

Note this is not a complete list of visas but includes several of the most popular TP visas.

The TP-3 visa is typically good for six months to two years depending on the length of the school program. The TP-7 and TP-4 visas are typically good for a period of a year or two. While the TP-10 visa is typically good for three years.

Colombia Resident Visa

A Colombia resident visa is good for a period of five years and must be renewed every five years. RE visas will also expire if you are out of Colombia for more than two years.

The common options for obtaining a resident visa include:

• Having a TP visa for a certain time – after holding most TP visas for an uninterrupted minimum time of five continuous years or for a TP-10 visa (Spouse visa) for a minimum of three years.

• Qualified resident – this is available immediately for parents of Colombian children.

• Resident investor – This option requires that you make an investment in Colombia of more than 650 times the minimum wage in Colombia or more than $136,214.

• Returning Colombians – In some cases, Colombians that live abroad were required to renounce their Colombian citizenship when becoming citizens of their host countries. This visa provides residency when these Colombians return to Colombia.

The requirements for obtaining a RE visa are spelled out in detail on the Cancillería website, here.

If you had a TP visa for the required minimum time, the requirements for a RE visa are easy:

• Copy of the main data page of your passport
• Copy of the page of passport with the last entry to Colombia stamp
• Copy of your TP visa(s)
• Migratory Movement Certificate issued by Colombia Migration, dated within three months of the visa application
• For a TP-10 visa, a notarized letter signed by the spouse or permanent partner who is a Colombian national requesting the issuance of the RE visa along a copy of the Colombian national’s cedula

The RE visa costs $385 as well as an additional $50 study fee. It can be applied for in person at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores office in Bogotá located at Avenida 19 # 98-03, Torre 100 Building, 3rd Floor.

Note that after receiving a RE visa you will have a maximum of 15 days to register your visa and apply for a new cédula de extranjería ID card in a Migración Colombia office in any city in the country.

Becoming a Dual-Citizen

One drawback of the RE visa is that it must be renewed when it expires. But it is possible to become a dual-citizen so you will no longer incur the expense for RE visa renewals.

After having an RE visa for five years (or two years if married to a Colombian), you can apply to become a citizen of Colombia. Colombia permits dual-citizenship as does the U.S. and many other countries.

Latin American and Caribbean nationals are eligible to apply for citizenship in Colombia after shorter time frames of only one year as a resident or two years if from Spain.

The requirements for Colombian citizenship application include:

• A letter to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, requesting citizenship, which includes name, date of birth, current address, contact details, country of origin, current nationality and last address before moving to Colombia and reasons for request of citizenship
• Copy of your cédula de extranjería
• Copy of the main data page of your passport
• Copy of valid RE visa
• Copy of Colombian tax return (if file taxes in Colombia) or certification from an accountant if not a taxpayer
• Authorization for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to request the report for naturalization, tax and other relevant information from other authorities
• Proof of Employment covering the past six months
• Marriage certificate, if married or permanent partner of a Colombian citizen
• Males between the ages of 18 and 50 must show their military status from their home country
• 4 Passport Photos

A complete list of the requirements for Citizenship is found on the Cancillería website here.

Like the US, Colombia also has a citizenship test. You are expected to pass a test related to Colombian history, geography and the constitution.

A basic Spanish oral test is also required. Those who have a bachelor’s degree from a Colombian university or are over 65 years old are exempt from these tests.

The Bottom Line

Colombia has many temporary visa options for foreigners who wish to stay in the country for a longer period than the standard six-month maximum during a year with a tourist visa.

Resident visas are more challenging and require several years with a temporary visa first unless you are a parent of a Colombian child or invest sufficient funds to qualify as a resident investor.

After having one of the temporary visas for a minimum of five years (or three years for marriage or permanent partner), you can receive a resident visa (RE visa) that is good for five years and will need to be renewed every five years.

After having a resident visa for five years (or two years for marriage or permanent partner) it is possible to obtain dual-citizenship and never have to deal with Colombian visas again.

For a 2018 update click here.

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Applying and obtaining a marriage visa in Colombia is a document-intensive process that requires careful planning.

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the steps that I took on my way to being the happy owner of a TP-10 visa valid for three years, hoping that the process will be much less complicated for you, than it was for me.

I met my Colombian husband (it still feels weird to say), Luis, two years ago in Australia and came with him to Medellín in the Summer 2014.

I was on a tourist visa and quickly realized that three or six months was not going to be enough in this beautiful place and even less so, if you have a relationship to nurse.

The TP-10 visa application process – at least the one I went through – consists of two steps:

1) Marriage

2) Visa application process.

If you are already married to a Colombian and have a marriage certificate from another country, obviously you can go ahead and skip the first step.

However, to apply for the TP-10 visa, you need to legalize/authenticate (with apostille) both your marriage certificate as well as a certified Spanish translation of this.

Step 1: Getting Married in Colombia

Not being a Catholic like my boyfriend, it was not an option for me to get the full-package white wedding in a beautiful iglesia.

Fortunately, getting married in a small, informal ceremony with my boyfriend’s family present, and my family on Skype suited us more than well.

So, we opted for the civil marriage at one of the many notarías in Medellín.

Besides performing civil weddings, the notarías deal with authentication, keep public papers like birth and marriage certificates and so on. You will find the notaría’s office in most of the barrios of Medellín.

I’d just like to add a quick word on religious weddings in Colombia: they are handled by individual religious officials and involve similar documentary rules, along with religious requirements.

After a religious wedding, the marriage must be registered at a notariá’s office. For further details about religious weddings in Colombia, you should contact the religious organization that you would like to do the ceremony.

Documentation for civil wedding

Your first step should be to contact your notary of choice to discuss required documents and other procedures.

Because Colombian marriage laws leave room for interpretation, marriage requirements sometimes vary from notary to notary.

Once you select a notary, it is important to find out what he or she will ask. You can use any notary, so if yours makes unrealistic demands, you may want to contact another one.

Many notaries have websites with helpful information. Alternatively, you can call or visit one in person. We never managed to get through by phone to ours, so we ended up spending around seven visits there altogether.

The requirements to apply for a civil marriage ceremony:

• Your civil registration papers indicating marital status, not older than 90 days*
• Spanish translation of civil registration papers**
• Your birth certificate*, not older than 90 days
• Spanish translation of birth certificate**
• Copy of your passport, which needs to be valid for at least another six months
• Copy of your Colombian partner’s cedula/citizen card
• Birth certificate of your Colombian partner

* You need to legalize/authenticate with apostille the documents issued in your home country, which is your birth certificate and civil status/civil registration papers showing that you are eligible to marry.

** Your birth certificate and civil status papers have to be translated into Spanish by a certified translator, and the translations have to be authenticated as well.

More about the apostille/legalization process on the Cancilleria’s / the Ministry of Foreign Relations’ website here.

The copy of your passport will be legalized at the notary’s office. Always bring your passport as documentation, when you visit the notary.

Your partner’s documents will also be authenticated, and everything is collected in a file.

Regarding translation of documents issued in your home country

Being a Danish citizen, I had to pick up my birth certificate at one of the offices of the Danish Church and my civil status paper at one of the Government’s Public Service offices.

In Denmark we can get our documents issued in Danish and English, so I still had to find a certified translator authorized by the State of Denmark to translate my papers to Spanish.

Only documents translated by an approved translator can be authenticated at the Foreign Ministry’s legalization office, which is the entity that deals with authentication in Denmark.

All this had to be done in Denmark, so if you are already in Colombia, check what your options are with your consulate or the Cancillería.

I suspect that the process of obtaining your documents varies from country to country, so check with your authorities.

Ultimately, you need to be able to show authenticated birth certificate and civil status documents in Spanish at the notary’s office. And remember that the originals must be no older than 90 days on the day you hand them into the notary.

Cost for documents

The costs (in USD) of obtaining the documents in Denmark (these will probably also vary depending on country) were:

• $25 for the civil status paper
• $0 for birth certificate
• $110 for translations of two documents
• $83 for authentication of all originals and translations

Marriage application process and ceremony

We took all our paperwork to Notaría 13 in Laureles a few days before Christmas, and they told us that we probably would get a response in a week.

Two weeks later, we still hadn’t heard from them, so we went back only to find out that they had not been able to read my marital status out of the papers I gave them, and they had somehow lost the phone number we provided. Oh well.

At the beginning of February, the papers were finally approved and we were ready to set a date, but for us to do that, we needed a certified translator present, as my Spanish was not good enough for them to allow me to sign any papers or get married without one.

Even though we had been at the office five times by then, this was the first time they informed us about this requirement. I guess they had assumed I was fluent in Spanish.

The notary’s office recommended us a translator, whom we called and set up an appointment to meet at the notary to book the wedding date. Fortunately, our translator was very flexible with her time and turned out to be an extremely pleasant person, who I was glad to have whispering in my ear during the ceremony.

We got married on a Saturday and we could pick up the marriage certificate the following Tuesday. Once you have this, you can start your application for the TP-10 visa.

There is no legal requirement that you tell your Embassy of your marriage, or that you otherwise register the marriage with your government, except in the course of requesting a foreign spouse’s immigrant visa.

Cost of wedding

• 15,200 pesos ($6) for extra copies and authentication of Luis’ cedula and birth certificate and copies of my passport. Paid when applying.
• 120,000 pesos ($47) for the wedding. Paid when setting the date for the ceremony.
• 200,000 pesos ($78) for translator to be present when booking date and at the ceremony.
• 12,100 pesos ($5) for two copies of the marriage certificate with authentication.

Step 2: Obtaining the TP-10 Visa

You can apply in several ways:

1. Online
2. At the office in Bogotá.
3. Through an agent.
4. At the consulate in your home country.

I applied online, however I had to follow-up with a visit the Bogotá office within 15 days from the date that the visa had been electronically approved to get my visa stamped in my passport.

There are no offices where you can apply in regional cities (i.e. Medellín). If you apply through an agent with the power of attorney, I’ve heard that you can save yourself the trip to Bogotá.

I must admit, I was not completely confident about applying online and I was a bit anxious about making everything in time. On the Cancillería website, you can call for personal help 24/7 via Skype, and I had a lot of questions about the application procedure.

As it turned out, the service staff are very helpful. Also, as a standard, it only takes them four days to approve online applications. This meant, that we were just able to make it before my tourist visa would expire.

Documentation

When filling out the TP10-application form online, you need to upload the following documentation

• 3×4 cm photo (visa photo on white background)
• Passport main page
• Passport page with latest entry stamp to Colombia.
• Certificed copy of your marriage certificate from notariá (no older than 3 months).
• Your wife’s or husband’s cédula (front and back).
• A letter from your wife or husband stating that you are married and she/he supports your visa application. We added a digital signature to this document.

Luis’ and I had all the paperwork ready except the photo, which we had taken at Foto Japón for 15,000 pesos ($6) for eight photos, however you may also do the photo yourself.

If you do the application at the Bogotá office, you need to bring the same documents, but they will take the photo for you.

Online application process

For the application, you need to fill out an online form. This is very easy to do and the form exists in both English and Spanish versions. You can find the form here.

Basically, you give personal data, information about your marital situation and answer a handful of yes-and-no questions about previous visa applications and your health. The information you need to give is not extensive and is easily done in 20 minutes.

Again, the Cancilleria’s website is very helpful and provides you with a step-by-step “idiots” guide how to fill out the form. If this does not answer your questions, you can call them at any time.

Once you complete the form, you save it, so you can make corrections or additions later, if you need to.

Shortly after, you’ll receive an email confirming that they have received your application and an application number to use, if you choose to pay for the application in the bank.

We paid the 106,200 COP ($41) straight away online using Luis’ Colombian debit card. In this case, you automatically get directed to your web bank. Take a screen shot of the payment, as you do not receive an email confirmation that the payment has been received. The approval procedure does not begin until the Cancillería has received the payment.

We only had to wait the weekend out for the approval. We paid for the application Friday morning and by Monday afternoon, I received an “approved” email from the Cancilleria, telling me to pay the remaining of the payment of 435,420 pesos ($170) within 15 days. If you do not pay within this deadline, you will have to start over.

Do not wait the 15 days out to pay your visa, unless you do so at the Cancellaria’s office in Bogotá with time afterwards to go to Migración Colombia to register your visa, which also has to be done within 15 days from the day your visa was approved.

This can only be done with the visa stamped in your passport. If you do not make the deadline, you will have to pay a fee.

I paid the remaining amount through the website on a Wednesday and by Friday I received an electronic version of my visa. This electronic visa is only good for taking with you to Bogotá to get it printed in your passport.

You cannot register your electronic visa at Migración Colombia nor use it to apply for cédula. The only thing you can do with it, actually, is to bring it to Bogotá, when you need to have it stamped/printed in your passport.

Finalizing the visa process in Bogotá

Barely making the deadline, I went to Bogotá 14 days after the issue date of my visa to have it printed in my passport Visa & Immigración Office and to register it afterwards at Migración Colombia.

The two institutions are located only six blocks from each other, so I recommend that you make a day of it and start early.

Step 1: Getting the visa stamped at Visa & Immigration Office

The office is located at Cra 19 # 98-03 Torre 10, which is a 20-30 minutes ride in taxi from the airport depending on traffic.

Documentation

• Passport (your passport must have a least 180 days and a minimum of two blank pages for the visa stamp).
• Copy of electronic visa.

The office opening hours are 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. You cannot make an appointment; you just have to show up. By 7:15 a.m., when I arrived, there was already a long line of people waiting outside. (I had a laugh discovering that this line can also be seen on Google Maps street view!)

At the security point, you show your passport and state your business, and you are guided to the right floor, where you receive a number at the front desk.

I had done some research on the procedure and expected at few hours of waiting but was called in almost immediately to the back office, where an official briefly reviewed my application.

I was then asked to wait in the waiting room again, while she printed the visa in my passport. This took only a few minutes.

As I had paid online, no more fees were asked.  I left the building again by 8 a.m. with an official visa valid for three years.

While I was there, I noticed that people who were doing their full application on site had to go through interviews with the officers, whereas I did not have to speak more than a few words. Also, they were not allowed to bring their Colombian spouse for the interview.

From my research I know that it will take a few hours to process the paperwork, should you opt for the on site application process. Everyone, however, will have his or her visa granted the same day (if approved).

Step 2: Register visa at Migracion Colombia and apply for Cédula de Extranjero

The Migración Colombia offices, where you register your visa and apply for cédula, are located throughout Colombia in the bigger cities.

The Bogotá office is located at Cll 100 # 11B-27, only a few blocks from the Visa & Immigration Office.

Since I was in Bogotá anyway I had decided also to prepare the documents for applying for a cédula, and it was easily done in the same procedure.

To register your visa you need:

• Passport with printed visa

To apply for cédula you need:

• 3×4 cm photo (visa photo on white background)
• Copy of passport main page
• Copy of the page where your visa is printed (there are several photo copy services around the Migración Colombia office).
• Copy of blood type card (can be done in a clinic e.g. Calle 48 #40-41 office 104, Medellín).
• A form filled out with basic personal information plus two Colombian contacts. You receive one at the office or you can prepare one beforehand: Download the form “formato único de trámites” from the documents menu.

I arrived at the office 8:15 a.m. and went into line to get my documents checked and collected.

Then I was directed upstairs, where I waited for an official to call my name. I handed him my papers and told him that I was there both to register my visa and to apply for cédula.

A simple interview took place as the official filled in details on his computer for my application.

Having double-checked the information (and the official’s spelling of my tricky Danish name), I paid 162,000 pesos ($64) with my credit card right there and then.

I was told that if I should want to pay in cash I would have to leave the building and pay in a bank, so I recommend bringing your debit or credit card.

As they do not mail the cédula to your address, and not wanting to go back to Bogotá, I arranged that my cédula be sent to the Medellín office, located Cll 19 #80A-40. You simply add this to the application.

Another official then took over to take my fingerprints, signature and picture (had I only known, I would have at least done my hair) for the cédula and all was done by 9 a.m.

Two weeks after my trip to Bogotá, I went online to check the status of my cédula.

It was ready to be claimed, so I called the local office in Medellín, where I’d asked them to send my cédula, to ask, if they had received it yet. They had, so I made a short visit and am now the happy owner of a TP-10 visa and a cédula.

Read more about cédula here.

Costs of obtaining the TP-10 visa were:

• 15,000 pesos ($6) for photos
• 106,200 pesos ($42) for online application review
• 435,420 pesos ($171) for the visa
• 360,000 pesos ($141) for flight tickets
• 40,000 pesos ($16) for taxi rides from and to the airport
• 162,000 pesos ($64) for cédula application

Final notes

The marriage procedure was by far the most stressful for me, as time dragged out by mis-communication and lack of information, all the while we had the tourist-visa-expiry-date-clock ticking.

Once the ceremony was performed, the rest of the visa paperwork was done within very short time.

However, during the process, I found that the information provided online actually varied in the English or Spanish versions, and trying to find the answers online only ended up confusing me so much that I barely made the 15-day deadline to register my visa.

Part of the reason for the confusion was because there exists a different deadline for printing your visa, if you apply from your home country. Also, I was not aware that I could not register my electronic visa. These misinformation combined almost had me pay very unwanted fees.

Yes, you CAN register your visa in Medellín, BUT the visa has to be printed in the passport first, and this is exclusively done in Bogotá.

So, instead of consulting websites for answers to your crucial questions, I would go for the information given via free phone calls or Skype calls.

The answers here were consistent and clear throughout the process. Again, the Cancilleria staff are available 24/7 on chat or Skype call directly from the website, and they are exceptionally helpful and patient!

Ultimately, of course, it was all worth the while, and my new visa status and my cédula bring along so many benefits.

For one, I can apply to be covered by my husband’s insurance, I can also apply for permanent residency after three years uninterrupted stay for this visa.

However, I am allowed to temporarily leave the country for up to three months. I look so much forward to what (married) life here in Colombia has to bring!

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Passport photo by Beatrice Murch.

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Applying for a Visa can give you a pretty huge headache, no matter the type of Visa you want. Bureaucracy, tons of paperwork and the stress caused by the possibility of not getting it on time or at all don’t help much either.

I came to Colombia as a volunteer for more than three months so I needed a temporary Visa to grant my staying here. I applied for a TP-6 Visa, which is perfect for somebody who wants to enter Colombian territory as a volunteer of an NGO recognized by the Colombian state.

Because I am part of the International Internships Program run by AIESEC, they provided me the documents I needed. So before applying you need to make sure that the organization you’re about to work for supports you in the process, at least with the documents.

Documentation

Here are the requirements to apply for a TP-6 Visa, according to the Colombian Consulate:

• 2-3 pictures with white background, 3×3 cm.
• Copy of the first page of your current passport where your personal data is displayed.
• Copy of the page of your passport where the last stamp of entry or departure of Colombia is located (if any).
• If you’ve had a Colombian Visa but it was issued without the OCR (lecture code), attach a copy of your last Colombian Visa. If you’ve had a Visa that counts with the OCR, this requisite is not necessary.
• If your Visa process will be finished by a third person, an official power of attorney must be presented.
• Letter signed by the legal representative of the organization describing the activities the foreign national will be carrying out in the country, the work program he will undertake, the length and agenda, the assumption of all cost responsibility during the stay of the foreigner in the country, as well as the expenses for his/her return to his/her country of origin or last place of residence, and his/her family according to the case.
• Certificate signed by the NGO legal representative where it shows experience and competence of the foreigner in relation with the activities he/she intends to carry out in the country or that the foreigner is an intern.
• Valid document that credits the legal capacity of the NGO (attach the pages that contain: identity, social object, legal representatives, capital or stock composition and functions of the legal representative) issued by the competent Colombian authority or similar document from a country different from Colombia with a minimum antiquity of 5 years and issued in the last three months. Both requirements could be substituted by a document that proves that the organization has consultative status of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC)

The legal representation document (last one in the list above) is vital for getting your visa. Without it you risk going back home with the same blank pages in your passport.

Application process

After you’ve gathered all the documents you can start your application.

First, go to the Online Visa Application System from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and fill in the forms, upload the photo and the documents. After submitting your form, you will receive an e-mail confirming your application.

If you lack documentation or add incorrect information in the form, you will receive an e-mail saying Solicitud Visa inadmitida, in which you’ll find the details about what you need to correct (after you panic for at least five minutes as I did).

The next step is to forward this email plus the payment receipt (if you pay online) attached to the email address of the Embassy you are applying for. The procedure to issue a Visa in this Embassy is to go there in person to pay the fee in the exact amount (154 euro, $205).

If you pay online, the payment must be made the same day the receipt is generated. If not, you have to request a new receipt (maximum two days after the initial request). Also, you need an active Colombian bank account to use PSE, the electronic payment system available for this.

I would suggest you to pay in person at the Embassy if possible, to avoid any complications. Somebody from Bogotá used PSE to pay for my Visa so they told me only the Group of Visas in Bogotá can issue my Visa. I had to apply again and then fly to Warsaw to pay and get my Visa.

The last step is to contact the Primary Secretary in charge of the consular function to set up a meeting to get your Visa printed and you’re done. You’ll have to answer a few questions on what are you going to do in Colombia, why did you choose the country and so on.

Hint: showing that you know something about Colombia is a plus. Do some research before. It’s always good to have detailed information about the places you’re about to travel. Also, Colombians are proud people so hearing others say nice things about and show interest in their country will only make things better than they are.

Final Thoughts

You should start the application process at least one week before buying your plane ticket and make sure you keep in touch with the embassy at which you are applying for your Visa.

I got my Visa from the Embassy of Colombia in Poland, as there is none in Romania (where I’m from). A European citizen can apply for it at any Colombian Embassy in Europe but I recommend you to find out the issue time of the Visa, as in some embassies it might take more than a day (in Wien, for example, it takes up to two to three days) .

In Warsaw you get it in 15 minutes if you have all the documents with you. Plus, the Primary Secretary in Warsaw is an amazing Colombian woman who’ll make you leave the embassy with hugs, bags of promotional materials about Colombia, and an even higher level of excitement to get to this country as soon as possible.

Good luck in getting your Visa! And most of all, in trying to avoid the “risk of wanting to stay,” which I guarantee you’ll take in your first couple of days here.

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Months of planning, dozens of questions, and over a thousand dollars spent on a legal fees, FedEx shipping, and travel had led me to Carolina’s cubicle at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores in Bogotá.

She was the gatekeeper, randomly assigned to review my business visa application, and decide 1) if I qualified for the visa, and 2) if yes, the duration of its validity.

I watched her flip through my stack of documents, which Alan, my lawyer, assured me was the best application we could put together. The Cadillac of NE1 Business Visa applications, he said.

But would my humble bank balances, well below the $10,000 I so often heard quoted in reference to business visas, and my 6-month old LLC for an online business be enough?

Final Preparations in Medellin

My document collection efforts came to a head 24 hours earlier in Medellin.

It was Thursday, and I was already holding the original documentation I’d been waiting on from the United States for weeks:

• Signed, apostilled Florida Certificate of Status for my LLC.
• Signed, apostilled Company Declaration from the VP of my LLC, also located in Florida.
• Signed letter from my bank stating my average bank balances and monthly deposits for the last 3 months, plus a letter stating why they can’t notarize it.

The cost to ship those documents from Florida via FedEx International Priority was $93. My Dad dropped it off on a Saturday, and it arrived by 6:15 PM the following Tuesday.

Now I was just waiting on those documents to be translated into Spanish by an official Colombian translator. I used Inter-Col, a service recommended by Alan, and was assured they’d be ready within 24-48 hours. At $12 per page, it wasn’t cheap.

I wanted desperately to get to Bogotá Thursday evening so I could be at the Foreign Relations office bright and early Friday morning to get a good spot in the queue.

In the meantime, I paced anxiously around the apartment.

I’d been watching airfare rates the last few days, and despite some very cheap flights to Bogotá when you book ahead on VivaColombia, a discount airline, I’d waited too long.

I took a chance that the translations would be ready on time, and booked a one-way flight on Avianca for 9:45 PM. The cost was $95.

At 4:30 PM, I had a final conference call with Alan to confirm we had all the documentation, and go over any last questions. At 5 PM, as the call wrapped up, his assistant confirmed my translations were completed and ready.

I was too impatient to depend on a courier service. I dashed out of the apartment, the elevator not descending to the ground floor fast enough, and jumped into a taxi. The rush hour traffic was already clogging the roads.

I told the driver I needed to get those documents before the office closed at 6 PM, and to his credit, got us there safely in 40 minutes.

I paid $84 in cash for the translations, and jumped back in the same cab for the ride back to Ciudad del Rio. In terms of documentation, I’d passed my final hurdle, or so I hoped.

Travel To Bogotá

By the time I got back to my apartment, I had a half hour to pack my small carry-on bag, and have security call me a taxi to the airport in Rio Negro ($31). We flew up Las Palmas, the air turning cold as we rose 800 meters up from the valley floor.

I checked in at the VivaColombia desk, and was told due to weather delays in Bogotá, I could take an earlier flight at 8:30 PM. That meant I was due at the gate in five minutes.

As usual, there were no lines at security, so I breezed through to my gate, where I had a few minutes to spare. I realized I hadn’t eaten dinner. No matter, I was going to get to Bogotá an hour earlier, which meant getting to bed an hour earlier.

The only problem was I’d arranged for a taxi through La Pinta Hostel in Bogotá to pick me up at 10:30 PM. I accessed the airport WiFi to notify them of the change via email, and boarded the flight.

After a short delay on the tarmac, we took off on the 25-minute flight to Bogotá. It was over in the blink of an eye.

Like I expected, the driver picking me up didn’t get the update, and I had to wait around for an hour, eating pastries to pass the time.

On our drive to the hostel, we came across a traffic accident. There were a lot of police, and I purposefully didn’t look to my left to see it. My driver did, mentioning someone had died. If I believed in omens on the eve of my visa application, that wasn’t a good one.

I checked into the hostel, and was assigned the same bottom bunk I slept in while there two years earlier to apply for a new passport. The familiarity didn’t make it any easier to fall asleep. I drifted off around 1 AM.

Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores

My iPhone alarm went off around 5:45 AM, and I quietly crept out of the room to take a quick shower, before collecting my documents and asking the receptionist to call me a taxi.

Arriving at the office of Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores at 7 AM, thirty minutes before it was due to open, I was surprised to already see a line of 50+ people, most of whom appeared to be Colombian.

I took my place behind Reid, an American English Professor teaching at a Bogotá university. We immediately started chatting, and would continue to do so as the office opened, and we slowly made our way into the 3rd floor suite where visa applications are reviewed.

First, we had to pay the $50 application fee (cash only), at which point we were given a number in the queue. Despite arriving 30 minutes before the office opened, I was #43 in line.

It could’ve been worse, by 10 AM, an employee came out and told everyone above #70 to leave and go to lunch, because they would not be seen any sooner than that afternoon.

A sign on the wall indicated the space was a Wi-Fi zone, but for whatever reason, I was never able to establish a connection.

Luckily, the hours passed quickly talking to Reid. It also took awhile to decipher the queue board. It lists “turns” which correspond to the number you’re given, and “modulos” which refers to the number of the cubicle and interviewer you’re assigned to when your number appears.

At 10:50 AM, my number finally lit up in red next to modulo #7, and I had my first meeting with Carolina. I waited patiently as she perused my papers.

Her desk was sparse, aside from two full glasses of water, a computer, and a Canon DSLR with a security wire tethering it to the desk. The walls were white, there were no pictures hanging.

Ten minutes, and minimal conversation later, she said I could go back out to the waiting room, and wait for my number to be called again.

Fifteen minutes passed, and my number lit up again. I returned to the same cubicle, at which point Carolina took my photo using the DSLR. Apparently there was no need for the 3×4 cm visa photos with a white background I’d gone out of my way to obtain.

She proceeded to scan all of my documents, and then returned them to me. Feeling a little more comfortable at this point (as in why would she take my photo if I weren’t getting a visa), I proceeded with a small charm offensive, and made a little small talk.

By 11:30 AM, I was once again sitting in the waiting room, which was starting to empty out ahead of lunch. A few minutes later, I returned to cubicle #7 where Carolina printed out and pasted a brand new NE1 business visa in my passport, valid through December 31, 2014.

I had expected 6 months, and was very pleased to have received 16 instead!

Now, I just had to pay the newly increased visa fee of $370, in cash, to get my passport back. The only problem was I didn’t have it on me.

Outside the building, there was a Bancolombia ATM, but my debit card has never worked with that bank. Instead, I had to cross a busy intersection to withdraw the money from Davivienda.

Returning to the 3rd floor suite, I walked past security, and presented my receipt for the visa, along with a giant wad of pesos to the cashier. She signed off on it, and I was then able to walk back to Carolina’s cube one last time to pick up my passport and visa.

Clarification: Visa Validity vs. Time in the Country

Once I returned to the hostel, I got online and notified friends and family about my success. I also notified Alan, my lawyer, who congratulated me, but also asked that I call him to clarify something.

It was only after obtaining the visa that I learned something very important. Just because my new business visa is valid 16 months doesn’t mean I can spend all that time in the country. On the contrary, it’s set up to allow me a maximum of 6 months per calendar year, for the duration the visa is valid.

The NE1 visa can be valid up to three years, and it’s at the discretion of the interviewer to set that length of time. More time equals fewer potential renewals, but it doesn’t mean I can stay more than 6 months per calendar year.

But that’s OK, because this visa still accomplished my goal. It allows me to spend the remainder of 2013 in Colombia, and the first 6 months of 2014.

If at that point, I want to stay longer, I can cancel the business visa, and switch back to a tourist visa, though I’d have to leave the country and come back to do so.

Total Costs

This is a rough estimate of the costs throughout this process:

Legal Fees

• $264 – Legalzoom cost to set up LLC (February 2013)
• $220 – Lawyer fees

Application Preparation

• $5 – Florida Certificate of Status for my LLC
• $20 – Apostille fees in Florida
• $25 – Miscellaneous (photocopying, printing, new visa photos)
• $157 – FedEx fees to obtain documents within US, and send to Medellin
• $84 – Translation fees

Travel 

• $138 – Flights to/from Bogota
• $93 – Airport taxis (two in Bogota, two in Medellin)
• $15 – Minimum one night stay at hostel
• $10 – Taxis to/from visa office

Visa Fees

• $50 – NE1 business visa application fee
• $370 – NE 1 business visa fee

Grand Total  = $1,871

The new NE1 visa fee that went into effect in the last month is the same whether you apply within Colombia or outside the country.

As you can tell, obtaining a business visa in Colombia is no longer a cheap affair.

Series

1. The Decision to Pursue a Colombian Business Visa
2. Documentation Required for a Standard Business Visa
3. Business Visa Update
4. Final Push: Visa Application and Interview Process in Bogota

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Since announcing my pursuit of a standard business visa last month, I’ve had lots of people asking for updates on my situation.

In the last two weeks since I shared the list of documents required to apply, I’ve run into some walls. One I can run around, the other I cannot.

First, E*Trade won’t notarize the letter I asked them to write, so I had a friend in New Jersey (where the office which produced it is located) take a copy to a local notary. She said the document can’t be notarized without the signer present.

The letter from my bank is required for my visa application, but the notary and apostille, technically, are not. It’d be great to have them both, as it adds credibility to the document and my application, but there’s nothing I can do based on my bank’s policies.

Second, I didn’t provide a proper place for a Florida notary to sign a stamp the Company Declaration letter written and signed by my LLC’s new VP.

As a result, Florida’s Department of State returned the letter without an apostille, but at least they included clear instructions in terms of what needed to be added to the letter.

The new version has been signed and notarized, and is effectively on its way back to Tallahassee for the apostille. This delay is adding another 7-10 calendar days to the process.

The one piece of good news is that while Florida returned the Company Declaration without an apostille, they did fulfill my request for a signed, notarized, and apostilled Certificate of Status, which states my LLC is in good standing.

My current tourist visa runs out soon, and I still need to receive my documentation here in Medellin, get it translated, and go to Bogotá before then.

Where does this leave me?

Stay tuned.

Series

1. The Decision to Pursue a Colombian Business Visa
2. Documentation Required for a Standard Business Visa
3. Business Visa Update
4. Final Push: Visa Application and Interview Process in Bogota

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“I knew this was going to happen,” I proclaimed, throwing my hands in the air in an exaggerated motion.

I’d spent an hour meticulously crafting a letter to my US-based bank, E*Trade, which spelled out exactly what I needed from them for my business visa application.

Specifically, I needed a signed, notarized letter from them stating my average monthly bank deposits, and balances, for the three accounts I had with them. This documentation is required to substantiate my ability to support myself in Colombia.

Instead, what my parents received back a week later was an unsigned letter from an Operations Expert in the New Jersey office stating why they cannot notarize documents.

In addition, the last three months worth of my bank records were provided, despite the fact that I stated in the letter that I could obtain this information myself through the E*Trade website.

I was pissed off. The confusion was going to cost me at least a week, maybe more, if they didn’t get it right the second time.

I called E*Trade customer service, and told them at a minimum I needed a signed letter with the average balances and deposits on it.

The information has to be on the signed letter, because that’s what I need to get notarized, and I can’t get the state to apostille the document unless it’s first notarized.

Wait, What’s a Notary?

A notary is a lawyer or person with legal training who is licensed by the state to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. — Wikipedia

And an Apostille?

The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille convention, or the Apostille treaty is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It specifies the modalities through which a document issued in one of the signatory countries can be certified for legal purposes in all the other signatory states. Such a certification is called an apostille (French: certification). It is an international certification comparable to a notarisation in domestic law.  — Wikipedia

In short, a notary certifies a document is official within a country, while an apostille certifies it is authentic for international use.

In the USA, notaries are fairly easy to find, and the fees are small. Apostilles must be done through the individual Department of State offices (depending on the state where the document was produced and notarized).

If my bank wasn’t going to notarize the letter, I had to come up with a Plan B. I emailed Chris, one of my oldest friends from New Jersey, and asked if he could assist me.

First, E*Trade would have to re-submit the request on my behalf, and mail me the signed letter.

Second, I’d have to FedEx it to Chris and hope he can get it notarized (I’ve been told by lawyer friends a notary does not always have to actually witness the signature to certify it).

Third, I’d have to include instructions for Chris to FedEx the notarized letter to the NJ State Dept for the apostille, plus include return FedEx envelope to my parents house in Florida.

The whole bank request suddenly became over-complicated by my bank’s unwillingness to notarize a document, what would seem a standard request for their customers. I’m surprised they don’t even have a notary in their NJ office, as we had a few in the insurance company I worked for in Virginia.

Meanwhile, I checked with my lawyer, Alan, regarding the notary, and thus apostille. He stated it was not absolutely required, but would be very helpful toward increasing the credibility of my documentation, and thus business visa application.

In the meantime, I appointed a new VP to my Florida-based company, RTW Media LLC. He also lives in Florida, and at my request, wrote, signed, and notarized a Company Declaration stating my business purposes in Colombia.

He then mailed this to my parent’s house, and in turn, they mailed it to the Florida State Department in Tallahassee for the apostille, along with a request for a signed, apostilled Certificate of Status, which states my LLC is in good standing in the state of Florida.

Through the FL State website, I can pay $5 to print out a copy of this, but per Alan, I need an original signature, and apostille.

Getting these documents from the US is what concerns me most about collecting the required documentation in a short period of time.

A delay or mistake can easily set me back several weeks, as was the case with E*Trade.

This series is intended to shed light on the entire process of applying for a business visa in Colombia. To that end, I want to share everything I need.

Required Documentation for a Standard Business Visa

1. Certificate of Status: signed, apostilled, translated to Spanish.
2. Company Declaration by another party: signed, notarized, apostilled, translated.
3. Company Declaration written by me (in Colombia): signed, translated, notarized in Colombia.
4. Bank Statements: signed, notarized, apostilled, and translated letter stating average monthly deposits and balances, plus 3 months worth of records.
5. Preliminary Questionnaire: for use by my lawyer in preparing the application.
6. Support Letters (Optional): letters in Spanish from Colombian business associates (or in my case, tourism officials), signed, notarized.
7. Passport
8. 2 copies of the Passport information page
9. 2 copies of most recent Colombian visa stamps
10. 3 visa-size photos

Update July 28, 2013: My parents received a second package from E*Trade, identical to the first. At first I was upset, until my parents confirmed that both the first AND second packages contained the signed letter I requested. It seems this was lost in communication after the first package was received, as only the unsigned letter stating a notary wasn’t possible was scanned/emailed to me. In other words, E*Trade did what they could, as I asked, and it was a miscommunication between my parents and I that lead us to lose a week.

To Be Continued…

Series

1. The Decision to Pursue a Colombian Business Visa
2. Documentation Required for a Standard Business Visa
3. Business Visa Update
4. Final Push: Visa Application and Interview Process in Bogota
5. Colombia Visas: My Experience with Langon Colombia

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PS – There is another type of business visa for owners of a Colombia-based business. This option was more expensive, and involves setting up a company in Colombia, as well as a bank account. The documentation requirements are different. I chose the standard business visa option because it was less costly, and I already set up an LLC in Florida earlier this year.

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Over five years ago, I decided I wanted to live in Medellin.

I barely knew the city, the people, or the culture, but sometimes all one needs is a first impression to take a leap of faith.

I began making friends through the hostel and Couchsurfing, several of which I still talk to today. I began Medellin Living to share my experiences discovering the city.

I began learning a new skill, salsa dancing, which would prove invaluable to my social life and self-esteem. I began studying Spanish on my own, and with the help of a Colombian friend, Rodrigo.

I began approaching and dating pretty girls with a confidence I never had before. I began receiving invitations to visit friends’ fincas.

I began renting a room in Ciudad del Rio, as the new neighborhood was literally constructed around me. I bought the bed, floor lamp, fan, sheets, pillows, and a decent shower head. I even chipped in on a new refrigerator.

I began exploring the rest of Colombia, from the pueblos of Antioquia to La Guajira.

I began answering questions via email and social media, responding to interviews, and meeting with people upon their arrival in the city for the first time. Others began referring to me for all things Medellin-related.

I wrote my own travel guide to Medellin.

And for the last 5 years, I’ve been content to limit my time in Colombia to the 180 days per year afforded on a tourist visa. Traveling for a living, this scenario suited me well, until recently.

By the end of 2012, I was burnt out and exhausted from all my travels the prior 18 months.

I planned to focus on work and writing in 2013, and limit travel. I returned to Medellin right before New Year’s Eve, and as always, it felt like I was returning home.

This year, I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to travel to parts unknown. I don’t want to set up shop in a new country, and start from scratch getting to know the city, region, culture, food, and customs again.

Living in a foreign country? It’s a lot of work.

Besides, why do I continue to leave Medellin when I so obviously enjoy it here. What’s standing in my way from spending 360 days a year here instead of 180?

The answer to that is a visa, specifically anything besides the tourist stamp you get on arrival. Getting that one is easy, and extending a tourist visa isn’t too hard either.

But which visa? How much will it cost me? What’s required? And what are the odds I’ll actually be approved? This year I began asking those questions, trying to figure out my options.

Colombia offers about 15 different kinds of visa. Using the process of elimination, I narrowed down the list.

I’m not living with a girlfriend in a civil partnership (resident visa). I’m not in a position to invest $35,000 (investor’s visa) or buy $200,000 worth of real estate (resident visa again).

I prefer not to spend the money and time on Spanish classes (student visa), though I could certainly stand to speak better Spanish. And I’m not employed by a Colombian company (work visa).

In June, I hired Alan Gongora and the Langon Law Group to help me sort out my best option, and guide me in the application process.

Several friends had used and recommended him, and at $220 (including tax and fees), the price was well within my budget. Last month, I had the initial consultation, where we discussed various options.

The standard business visa seemed like the most appropriate option for me, but Colombia doesn’t look at online businesses the same way as brick and mortar ones.

Would the person reviewing my business visa application recognize the value I offer Colombia in my line of work? Will they only give me 6 months instead of 12 months, or worst of all, reject my application entirely?

Last week I finally decided to move forward with the standard business visa application. I’ve begun collecting the required documentation, a process I will describe in the next post in this series.

But it’s mid-July now, and the clock is ticking. My tourist visa runs out August 20, 2013.

If I can’t get a new visa before then, I’m effectively kicked out of the country until 2014.

I’ll be giving up the room I rent, and the comfortable living situation, plus saying goodbye once again to friends, and any lucky girl I happen to be dating.

I won’t be around to host the bi-weekly reader meet-ups which are going so well. And it effectively puts on hold the other big plans I have in store.

I’m feeling the stress. It’s like I’m in a pressure cooker. And things are only going to get more intense in the coming weeks, as the August 20th deadline draws near.

Stay tuned…

Series

1. The Decision to Pursue a Colombian Business Visa
2. Documentation Required for a Standard Business Visa
3. Business Visa Update
4. Final Push: Visa Application and Interview Process in Bogota
5. Colombia Visas: My Experience with Langon Colombia

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Did you enjoy this post? Support Medellin Living by making a small donation, and get access to special benefits like priority email responses to your questions and a free copy of the Medellin Travel Guide. Click here to learn more.